IT is unconscionable that a public inquiry has not yet been called into the PSNI spy cops scandal.

Last week the film No Stone Unturned, which documents the murders at Loughinisland 30 years ago, was screened at the Queen's Film Theatre. It was sold out and citizens from all walks of life came to bear witness to a film which documents the bizarre and outrageous cover-up of these killings, which drew outrage across the globe.

We were reminded that the Pope and the Queen of England wrote to the families to express their sympathy. We were reminded of the British Secretary of State of the day, Tom King, coming to the scene and making hyperbolic statements of condemnation. Then we were brought on a journey uncovering the extensive role of state agents and cover-up of the killings, which ensured there has never been justice.

Following the screening not a single person rose from their seats as a panel including Adrian Rogan’s daughter Emma, families’ solicitor Niall Murphy and journalist Barry McCaffrey spoke about the making of the film and the arrests which followed its screening. 

A normal person from a normal country might expect the arrests to have been of the named suspects and those that handled them in the RUC, or those who destroyed the getaway car and forensic evidence. And that normal person might be a bit surprised to discover that that the arrests were actually of the filmmakers, Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney. They might also be a little surprised that these arrests were made by the new Police Service of Northern Ireland, which replaced the ignominious RUC of the day. 

They might further have been a little perturbed that the arrests were made under the Official Secrets Act and that the conditions under which these arrests were made involved a statement from the chief suspect, Ronnie Hawthorn – who had been named in the film – stating that he believed the film brought his rodent extermination business into disrepute. 

The clincher for this citizen might have been a few years later when Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney’s complaint to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a pretty pedestrian body, revealed that journalists and lawyers have been routinely spied on by the PSNI for decades. 

There is a cobbled-together review being put together by a Chief Constable under pressure to do something to address this. It is not good enough. It will not have the independent powers or scope to examine exactly what is going on. Few believe this stops at journalists and lawyers. In the context of the lawfare by the state against victims of the conflict, few trust the state to freely comply and be open about what lurks behind these actions. Only a judicial inquiry might uncover the truth and extent of this post-RUC operation.

The lack of outcry most disturbing. Why is the Policing Board not demanding a public inquiry? This oversight board has been blindsided to a covert operation against citizens doing their jobs for decades. 

What about the Justice Minister? “Not ruling out” a public inquiry is not good enough. This scandal stems from murders and their cover-up. 

Collusion in the past and the present needs to be exposed, and not accepted as just the way things happen here. The risk to our fragile post-conflict society is too great.